The Old Diocesan Issue 13 - Magazine - Page 55
HOT TOPIC
“Using AI well has become non-negotiable.
But knowing when not to use AI, and tempering
your reliance on it, is a skill that will differentiate
the winners from the rest.”
AS CHRIS AND KIERAN EXPLAIN,
successful AI implementation
should make your business more
human, not less. Of course, a
person should always be in the
loop, especially in these early
adoption days; AI should draft
your emails, not send them. But
the sentiment is more profound
than ensuring the robots don’t
malfunction or hallucinate.
The most useful version of an
AI-native business, as Kwanda
imagines it, is one in which
information no longer moves at
the speed of the human inbox.
Machines handle the centre:
moving data, searching records,
compiling documents and
advancing routine processes
“at the speed of processing
power”. People move towards
the edges, where they meet
clients, exercise human reason
and judgment, develop ideas and
build relationships. The diagram
that illustrates this point is an
aha moment for those watching
Kieran’s workshop presentation.
(See opposite page.)
When I ask Chris whether he’s
seeing people unlocking the same
productivity with fewer hours, or
greater productivity with the same
hours, the answer is somewhat
counterintuitive. He’s seeing even
more productivity than expected,
because people are putting in even
more hours. “Right now, people
are happy to work longer because
they’re enjoying it,” he says. “The
drudge work isn’t holding them
back, and it’s highly motivating
when you’re suddenly getting
so much done.”
Expect that to settle in time, but
Chris is certainly taking a positive
attitude to AI implementation. “Will
there be a shift in jobs? Absolutely,”
he says. “But a long-term prediction
right now is a guess – and a guess
is always informed by optimism
or pessimism. I choose to be
optimistic.” AI may allow a team of
10 to become eight, but he would
rather help a team of 10 perform
like a team of 14, and then use that
growth to hire more good people.
The distinction is important.
Productivity is not valuable merely
because it squeezes more units of
labour from a day. By removing
dreary work, well-implemented
AI systems enable enthusiasm,
leaving people with the stuff that
requires personality, experience
and care. Which means more time
forming partnerships over coffee.
There are, of course, limits
and potential pitfalls. Chris still
writes from his own head and
urges others to read long-form
journalism and books, partly
to exercise the attention muscle
that phones and algorithms have
weakened. AI is especially useful
for “blank canvas syndrome”; it is
less impressive when it produces
the finished thought, the job
application or the ingratiating
LinkedIn comment.
“Knowing when not to use AI,
and tempering your reliance on it,
is a skill that will differentiate the
winners from the rest,” he says,
a consensus that is reiterated in
the workshop. Generic AI copy,
for instance, is a lazy tell, and
anyone interested in working at
Kwanda should know that it’s
GETTING STARTED
Key advice from Chris and Kieran
Get started! You may feel you’re
too far behind to start. You’re not.
But you have to use it properly.
Pay for your AI. It will be superior
to the free version, and at about
$20/month, “You can’t get more
value out of anything in the world.”
Record your meetings. An app
like Granola eliminates the dreaded
minute-taker job. But it’s not just
for the notes – the meeting can
now go into your archive, which
your agent can search later.
Get a dictation tool. Wispr Flow
is a dictation app that lets you
talk into any window at the press
of a button, cleaning up the result
with AI. Kwanda recommends it as
the single product that has saved
them the most time. Remember,
“Typing is so retro.”
Connect it up. This is the leap
from generative to action-taking
AI. By connecting Claude to Gmail
and Granola, for example, your AI
can read the email you were sent,
pull the relevant context from
your meeting notes and put
a reply in your Drafts.
Check your ecosystem. Google
Workspace is by far the most
open at this stage, allowing
you to ramp up productivity.
Outlook works, but you’ll wait
for IT. Apple Mail is, for now, a silo.
Find the eye-rolls. “Ask yourself:
what are the things I roll my eyes
at having to do and wish were
automated?” An advocate who
spends an entire day building
a chronology from a metre of
lever-arch files can have one
in a matter of minutes. Unpaid
invoices can chase themselves.
Expect results in weeks.
“Management teams see AI
implementation as something
scary that’ll take six months to
produce an ROI. That isn’t true.”
THE OLD DIOCESAN | 51
